Where do you have your layout?

Build a closet in the basement.

Iarwain :

At present my railroad, such as it is, is in the attic, which is actually a fairly pleasant place as the months get colder.

Cordially yours, Gerard P.

I belong to a club with a good sized layout, so that's "my" layout :)

Spare bedroom (11 x 12). Better conditions that in a basement where the predecessor was located.

12 x 16 foot room in basement.

-- Cheers Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

Air conditioned, lined shed in garden, 24' x 14'. Heated if necessary with column heater, but our winters are fairly mild.

Steve Newcastle NSW Aust

One is in my basement. It is a 22x12 unfinished. I had the builder install a studwall and electrical outlets for me. My other is the Kalamazoo Model Railroad Historical Society's layout. See

for details.

I have a stand-alone 700 sq. ft. building in the backyard for my future layout, converted from a workshop the previous owner had built for his custom knife business. It's empty at the moment as I have not yet come up with a plan with which I am happy. I have not even worked on any plans for over a year. :-{(

Have an O Gauge 245' wall/ shelf L layout in 2nd floor, only bedroom.

Has two main line loops of 75' each, 40' parking track, 10' Y, & 17', 8', 6' sidings... Track is Atlas O, 072 min diameter...to 099 dia.

Both main lines have down/up 5" grades too clear roof valley beam. Layout has 15 turn outs.

Finished basement

-- Bill McC.

All of my layouts since I got my first Lionel set at Christmas back in

1956 have been in basements. I'm in the room prep stage (which is taking forever(!) for my ultimate "dream layout" in my current 22 by 38 foot basement.

"Paul - The CB&Q Guy" (Modeling 1960's In HO.)

In a shed behind the house, on several pieces of paper and in my head. The one in the shed is half built, the one on paper gets revised to reflect reality, the one in my head is beautiful, operates perfectly and has sidings that are longer. Bruce

Hello

Mines in a small spare bedroom which doubles as a guest room.

4' x 9' >Just curious, where does everybody have their layout? Basement,

My Website:

I've had two in the secondary bedrooms. one N scale and 1 a 4x10 Ho scale

My last two in basements, a 12x25 Ho scale. too big for me.

I now have a 9 x 13 around the walls on 3 sides with a lift to get in the middle average width 24-30 inches

Happy railroading and Happy thanksgiving from the U&I rr in Central NY!

As others have noted, the basement is fine...IF you finish it properly first. My dad built a separate 10 x 15 room in one corner of his basement. He just studded two walls to create the room amd he painted the other 2 cement walls (that seals the walls as a source of dust). He also put in a ceiling which stopped dust from above. Doing an actual separate room in the basement gives you a lot of flexibility and eliminates all concerns regarding windows and closet access.

Cheers and happy empire building. Bill S.

Mine is in half of a 17'x27' finished basement. I have east facing windows to let in plenty of sunshine. I can actually work on the railroad without turning on any lights.

Tim Lange West Lafayette, > Just curious, where does everybody have their layout? Basement,

I should add.....if you do the basement room, you need to also either epoxy paint the floor or put down some form of tile or other covering to "seal" the cement floor.

Cheers again, Bill

>

Rick Jones wrote: [...]

Sounds like the size of the space has got you bollixed, but good. Many years ago, I helped a fellow design a layout in a 1800 sq. ft space: he was so overwhelmed by the sheer possibilities that he couldn't make up his mind what he wanted. That's the main problem with large spaces: they make you feel you can do anything, which translates into having difficulties limiting your plans.

(Re-)read John Armstrong on track planning: very inspirational. Will also give you a method for deciding what you want your layout to be.

You don't need a "final plan", all you need is a good concept to guide your building. By concept I mean: era and style of railroading, and general arrangemnt of the mainline, location of yards/staging/towns, plus a few designs standrads such as min. radius, max. grade, etc. You can and IMO should design the details as you go. Most importantly, the concept should allow for construction in stages, so that you can operate trains within a year or less of starting construction. Otherwise, you'll be tempted to fill your space with benchwork first, and you'll get bogged down.

Meanwhile, build a nice little, um, "Holiday Village" layout for under your, um, "Holiday Tree", just to keep your hand im, and besides kids of all ages will love it.

HTH&GL

A 16" x 12'6" shelf along one wall of what was supposed to the train room in the basement, but has been taken over by books and computers.